


Sweet Dreams, Frank

by CaptainAFAB



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Episode: s08e22 Dreams, Gen, Nightmares, Surreal, canon-typical bullying of Frank Burns, canon-typical depiction of surgery, frank has a nightmare, hawkeye is kind, this confuses frank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAFAB/pseuds/CaptainAFAB
Summary: Frank has dreams too. Well, nightmares, really. Remember that episode about everyone's worst fears coming true? Frank's already did.
Relationships: Frank Burns & Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Sweet Dreams, Frank

**Author's Note:**

> a frank-centric fic? on _my_ archive? it's more likely than you'd think.  
> (this one's not shippy but also, it's not _Not_ a hawnk fic so... make of that what you will lol)  
> special thanks to my good friend [holograms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/holograms/pseuds/holograms) who gives me hope for this character.
> 
> love you all,  
> please enjoy ~

It's dark inside the mess tent and he wonders where everyone has gone. Suddenly, the lights come on and brightness envelopes him. 

“Surprise!” they shout. 

There's crepe paper and lanterns hung from the rafters and a table stacked with wrapped gifts. He knows it is his birthday, and he understands that the party is supposed to be for him. Smiling faces swirl around him, familiar but... _happy to see him?_ That can’t be right. It’s unnerving.

Margaret is by his side. “Oh, Frank! They love you!”

He shakes his head in disbelief. No one would really go to all this trouble just for him. This _can’t_ all be for him. Could it?

“Sure it is, you silly goose.” Pierce gives him a smile. Teasing? Genuine? He’s not sure. It's probably a lie. He wants to believe though. 

There’s a drink in his hand now and Margaret’s telling him not to have too much. He hasn’t even taken a sip yet. She’s right, of course. Alcohol does make him sluggish. 

Now he’s at the gift table and Pierce hands him a small box tied with twine. He sets his glass down and pulls on the loose end of the bow to free the present from its container. He uncovers the box and pulls from within a gleaming scalpel. 

“Speech! Speech!”

He looks down to see his feet are on the tabletop. He stands above them all, looking down at their now blank expressions. He wants to comply, to appease them and make them happy again but he finds that he has no voice. 

He feels a nudge—an elbow to his side. “Come on, Frankie.” He can hear his mother’s voice and he turns around to face her. “Be courteous! These nice young boys came to your party and you won’t even say thank you? Do you _know_ how many invitations I had to send just to get these four to show up?” She points over his shoulder and he spins around again. 

He sees Pierce, Hunnicutt, McIntyre, and Blake standing in a semicircle, facing him. They are all in white, masks over their faces and gloves on their hands. They stare at him. Anticipating… something. O'Reilly wheels the cake in on a gurney. Frank steps forward, scalpel in hand. When he looks down this time, ready to cut the cake, he sees that it’s someone’s chest cavity. 

“C’mon Burns! We’re all here because of you!” he hears Pierce shout. “You’re gonna lose him—cardiac massage!”

There is so much blood. He cannot see the field. He needs to call for suction but he can’t. He doesn’t know what to do. 

“What medical school even let you in anyway?” Asks McIntyre. 

“Whichever one it was surely lost their accreditation after _Frank_ graduated,” Hunnicutt says.

“You’re killing him,” McIntyre taunts. “You can’t even darn socks—let alone sew up a soldier!”

“I envy the poor bastard,” remarks Hunnicutt. “At least he won’t have to deal with Burns anymore.”

“Focus, boys.” Colonel Blake will make them stop. He has to. It’s his job to ensure his men stay professional in the OR. “You know he doesn’t have the brains to listen to you two _and_ operate at the same time.”

“Frank!” Pierce shouts.

He has the man’s heart in his hands. He’s squeezing but a bullet has ripped right through the aorta and every time he applies pressure blood spurts forth from it. He needs something to pack the wound. He wants to call for a sponge, for a clamp, more suction—anything. His mouth is moving but no sound comes forth. 

“Frank!” Pierce shouts again. “Wake up!”

Frank opens his eyes with a start. There’s Pierce in his t-shirt and boxers, disheveled and bleary eyed, standing over his cot. Frank looks quickly around and sees he’s in the swamp. The cool air of the early morning sends a shiver down his spine. 

“S’just a dream,” Pierce says in a calming voice, gently prying away Frank’s fingers where they clutch desperately at his forearm. 

Frank can feel cold sweat on his forehead and running down his back. It makes his shirt stick to his skin and the rough sheet he lies on is damp against the backs of his legs.

“You were shouting for suction…” he says softly. 

“No I wasn’t.” 

“It’s okay, Frank. We all get them sometimes.”

“Get what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He’s defensive now. Pierce is just trying to get him to admit he has nightmares so he can use it against him later. 

“Sure, Frank,” Pierce says dryly. “Well, there’s no way _I’m_ getting back to sleep now. I don’t know about you.”

“No, I’d imagine not…” Frank glances around and sees that they’re alone. “Where’s Hunnicutt?”

“Oh, he had the overnight shift in post-op.”

Frank nods. They sit in the pre-dawn silence for a moment. 

“How about a game?”

“You know I don’t gamble.”

“Ah, c’mon, we’ll play Go Fish. What’d ya say?”

Frank is wary. “Is this… a trick?”

“Only if you catch me cheating,” he says. Frank thinks he can feel the sincerity in Pierce’s smile. 

“Oh, alright. Maybe just one round.”

**Author's Note:**

> [come talk to me on tumblr <3](https://captainafab.tumblr.com/)   
> 


End file.
